Mole Excision

Hy Ryhill,

It's long because they take an eliptical slice of skin away, and has so many stitches because they're holding closed a hole, not just a slit.  My first surgery for melanoma was about 3" long and had 15 stitches, the nurse who removed them told me she's seen smaller appendectomy scars!

And as for my subsequent Wide Excision some 10 years later, it's about 8" long!

Come join us on the melanoma group too.

Marsha x

Thanks for that Marsha, I was just worried as I've seen other peoples scars from mole removal and they have been so tiny, and with my mole only being 6-7mm i was suprised by the size! The consultant did say that it was inflamed (possibly ulcerated) so I guess that may have caused the surgeon to have to take more skin.  Thanks you have put my mind at ease...

Just a waiting game now.......fingers crossed it will all be ok.

Emma x

Hello Ryhill,

Not sure that I can offer any explanation other than what the previous replies to your post.

In my own case I had a small 'wart' on the outside of my left thigh which I had removed back in May 09 which just left a small circular scar about 1 cm diameter.

It was then found to be cancerous (squamous carcinoma). Unfortunately the cancer had spread to my lymph glands in my left groin. Went into hospital in Sept '09 where they cut further into the original site and I was left with scar which is about 10 cm + long., a straight line. Like you I wwas surprised by how long it was, but I think that they prefer to err on the side of caution and remove a larger area including some healthy tissue just to make sure that they dont leave anything behind so the incision they make is probably larger / longer than you would expect simply for that reason, to make sure they have n't left anything behind. So I would n't worry to much about the size of your scar being longer than you anticipated. They probably need to make a longer incision to get at it. The actual tissue they removed is probably only the size of the original mole or slightly larger.

Hope this helps......Terry

WELL  I  GUESS   THEY  SAY  ONE  THING ...  BUT  WHEN  THEY  CUT  YOU   OPEN....  IT   COULD  BE  A  LOT  WORSE   THAN  THEY   FIRST   THOUGHT

   I'VE   HAD  OVER  40   NOW   TAKEN  OFF  MY  FACE..

   1..  OF  THEM  TOP  CORNER  OF  MY  LEFT  NOSE / EYE..    I  WAS   UNDERGOING    MOSE   SURGERY  ..  THEY  SAID  ..ONLY  ABOUT  3  STITCHES...    noooo   problem   ..

      I  HAD  TO  GO  BACK  THE  NEXT  MORNING...  THEY  DID'NT  HAVE  TIME 

TO  SEW  ME  BACK   UP..  AS  IT  WAS   18.  55

   NEXT   MORNING  FIRST  THING..  I  WAS  BACK   ..143   stitches... 

    i'm  used  to  this  ..now     THE  SURGEONS   ARE  USUALLY  RIGHT..

           " USUALLY "

My husband has had the melanoma removed from his back and since then a further one to remove surrounding skin. I would say his original mole was much smaller than yours and yet his scar is about 4” longso please do not worry x